A stately oxcart carries its load of bamboo past Victoria Terminus
early one morning. Pico Iyer calls Bombay's central railway station
"the cathedral of all this mildewed classicism [and a] reminder of
the time when Bombay was the second largest city in the Empire
(after London)." Pico recounts his visit inside the station:

"When I went inside ... I felt myself in a world devised by Lewis
Carroll and translated by Jorge Luis Borges into Esperanto: booth
after incomprehensible booth, in room after room after hangarlike
room, some offering 'Manual Booking Refund on Pre-bought Ticket,'
some promising 'Refund on Reserved Tickets for Trains Leaving on
Same Day and the Following Day up to 9:00 hours,' ... and all of
them governed by myriad rules both courtly ('Kindly Tender Exact
Amount of Fare') and relentless. (When informed of a seat's
availability, you must say yes or no in 20 seconds)."